Musicians, performers and the like that need to hear themselves and other members of a band or performers in order to stay in-time and/or in-tune are required to utilize a methodology to hear one another called monitoring. Historically open speakers called floor wedges have been used to provide a combined mix of the performers voices, instruments and/or music tracks in order for the performers to hear other pertinent audio during the performance.
Some years ago legacy hearing aid in-ear custom molded monitors were introduced into the market. These custom in-ear monitors took the place of the floor wedges. The custom in-ear monitors substantially reduced the amount of equipment needed for the performers, lowered overall stage volume and reduced risk of hearing damage from performers by allowing the overall monitoring level to be lower.
Since the advent of custom in-ear monitors the process for manufacturing them and the resulting product has not changed very much. This can be attributed to limited types of speaker technologies, legacy manufacturing methods utilized and materials and parts available for assembly. Although these methods and materials work, they fall short in many areas. These areas include: low frequency performance, sweat abatement into the inside, cerumen vapor intrusion, comfortable yet sealed canal lengths, ruggedization, reparability, digital manufacturing methodologies, precision internal parts, use of hybrid driver configurations, tunability, placement and sound bore diameter and length calculation for optimal performance.
With this the need exists for a better design which answers all of these shortcomings. A better custom in-ear monitor needed to be designed to better serve those who utilize them for their very livelihood.